1 ~ Drop the fake due dates
Attaching due dates to tasks like “vacuum car” just gets you into the habit of ignoring due dates. You’re too smart for fake due dates.
2 ~ Create a to-do list with your goals in mind
If you created a vision board that has images of the house that you want to buy, the book that you want to write and the images of watercolour that you want to start – but you don’t have to-dos like ‘create a house savings account’ ‘research writing courses’ – then you’re doing your to-do list wrong.
3 ~ Considering a mixture of scheduling and to-do lists
To-do lists make it easy to pick and choose what to do. Instead, schedule out time to work on the impactful tasks (the things that save you time in the future, have an impact on your life in 3+ years, and contribute to your goals ~ vision ~ mission ~ and values). Make sure that in between doing things on your to-do list (which often fills up with reactive tasks) you’re dedicating time to the important tasks.
4 ~ Pair your to-do list with Pomodoro and other time constraints.
Without using time constraints alongside your to-do list, Parkinson’s law comes into effect. Put simply, the amount of work required adjusts to the time available for its completion. If you give yourself 10 hours to complete a task, you’ll take 10 hours to complete a task. If you take the same task and give yourself 2 hours, you’ll take 2 hours.
